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Ringhals focuses on core business

In the 1990s, Vattenfall’s Ringhals nuclear power station outsourced its service deliveries to some 20 or so suppliers. This spring Coor Service Management assumed sole responsibility for the service delivery to Ringhals.

In January this year Studsvik Stensand was acquired by Coor. This spring Coor signed an agreement with Ringhals to deliver approximately 50 services.

"In the past Ringhals had employed staff for garden maintenance and taxi services, for example. We then decided to review our core business. The assignment for service deliveries went to 25 subcontractors. Now though we work with a single supplier, Coor, which manages, co-ordinates and delivers services," says Rickard Halldin.

He says that similar outsourcing solutions could be found throughout the Nordic nuclear power industry in the 1990s.

"When we define our core operation, it's about having personnel who can run the plant with a sufficiently high level of safety. For safety and security reasons we can't outsource everything that lies outside of our core business. Laws and regulations stipulate that operation, chemistry, some maintenance and some service must remain with the organisation responsible for the activity, i.e. Ringhals," Rickard Halldin explains.

Outsourcing service deliveries to one supplier who then manages and co-ordinates the assignment has the advantage that Ringhals need only have contact with one partner, rather than 25 as in the past. Rickard Halldin gives the following explanation as to why the assignment went to Coor:

"Coor has the desire to collaborate and develop the operation. Personal relations are important, and of course we know Studsvik Stensand from before. Quite simply, with Coor we can find better solutions in our activities.

"Our operation is largely event-led; we have to have an organisation that can react quickly. Our rules, controls and safety directives require planning. We can streamline this process to ensure we use our resources in the best way – while at the same time being able to reduce our costs," he says.

In December 2008, Ringhals will evaluate the effects of the agreement with Coor. Rickard Halldin says that by then, three goals must have been achieved:

"We want to be making more efficient use of human resources, to have sufficiently high quality in the services we are buying and a reduction in Ringhals's service delivery costs. At present everything is pointing in the right direction," he says.

About Ringhals:

Ringhals is the largest nuclear power station in the Nordic region and the four reactors produce almost one-fifth of all electricity used in Sweden. The nuclear power station is part of the Vattenfall Group and is located on the west coast of Sweden in Varberg municipality.

Ringhals is one of the few nuclear power stations worldwide to have both boiling water and pressurised water reactors.

The power station has just over 1,500 employees.

About the service assignment:

Coor's assignment began on a small scale on 1 April this year and will be fully developed in November. The delivery encompasses production service, property-related service and workplace service. Coor collaborates with 24 subcontractors. Service deliveries include sanitation, decontamination, fire protection, handling of sensitive waste, building service, management of outdoor environments, cleaning and conference service.